The Last Goon Show of All (1972) (TV)

User Rating:

8.1/10   

Writer:

Spike Milligan (writer)

Release Date:

10 May 1972 (UK)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot Keywords:

Based On Radio Series | Orchestra | Shakespeare's Hamlet | Musical Number | Flatulence

Cast

Ray Ellington	...	Himself / The Red Bladder
Max Geldray	...	Himself
Spike Milligan	...	Himself / Count Moriarty / Eccles / Little Jim / Minnie Bannister
Harry Secombe	...	Himself / Neddie Seagoon
Peter Sellers	...	Himself / Policeman / Hercules Grytpype-Thynne / Bluebottle / Major Bloodnok / Henry Crun
Andrew Timothy	...	Announcer

Also Known As:

The Last Goon Show (UK) (short title)

Runtime:

59 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

Australia:G

Filming Locations:

Camden Palace, Camden High Street, Camden, London, England, UK

Company:

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Trivia:

Wallace Greenslade, who was the radio show's announcer for most of its run through the 1950s, died in 1961. Andrew Timothy had in fact been the original announcer for the radio shows in the early days, so it was fitting that he was given the job of announcing the last one of all.

Quotes:

Neddie Seagoon: Bloodnok, hold it!
Bloodnok: I can't hold it much longer, it's old age!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Last of the Summer Wine: Getting Barry Higher in the World (#11.6)" (1989)

The end of innocence

Now that all the Goons (including Bentine) are finally gone, some appreciation of the Goon Show's central place in twentieth century humour can be made. From its fertile loins sprang the Python series and movies, the exasperatingly uneven but lunatic 'Q' series, and even The Goodies. Goonery was a gentle humour of punning, semantics, mind imagery and class satire. No archetype of English life was left spared, from the military to officious doormen, spinsters, cads, upper-class homosexuals and wandering minstrels. All this was done with a deft mixture of mimicry, inspired lunacy and sometimes groan-inducing music hall clangers. There were no swear words, violent images (except of course for Bluebottle being regularly 'deaded' at the end of each episode, much like South Park's Kenny) or intellectual pretensions, and no need. To listen to the Goons now is to be transported back to a world of ration cards, London bomb sites and dusty vaudeville halls beginning with the immortal words of Wallis Greenslade - "This is the BBC". To listen is also to recapture a certain innocence, never to be seen again. I have often thought of Spike Milligan as the James Joyce of 20th century humour. His recent death filled me with as much sadness as the death of a relative. Vale, the Goons